The Sail Loft

The Sail Loft is an early 19th-century warehouse, originally with earlier origins, now used as a rigging shop and sail loft, located on Foss Street, Dartmouth. It was altered around 1950. The building is constructed of local limestone rubble with some red brick dressings; the west end is painted, and roughcast covers secondary brick infill on the north side. The roof is covered in asbestos slate.

The warehouse originally comprised three storeys, but was repaired and converted to two storeys after sustaining wartime damage. The west end features a coped gable above a former loading hatch, now the main doorway to the sail loft, accessed by a 20th-century iron staircase. A full-width ground-floor doorway is also present. The south side has a five-window front with 20th-century windows featuring glazing bars under brick segmental arches. The ground floor originally contained tall openings, now blocked. The property is said to include iron mooring rings. The north side originally had boarding between stone piers, but this has been replaced with rendered brick and large, full-width windows with glazing bars, positioned along the front garden of the adjacent Broadstone House. The east end has a first-floor loading hatch with a side light in the blocking of a larger original opening. A rounded corner on the south-east transitions to a square section above, supporting a hipped roof. The wall continues northwards and forms part of Broadstone House, where it incorporates 12- and 16-pane sash windows.

The interior originally had three storeys, but the floors were removed around 1950 when the warehouse was converted to two storeys. A new first floor was constructed on cast-iron joists, reportedly re-used train rails from Plymouth. The southern windows have internal lintels made of large pieces of reused timber. The roof is supported by softwood A-frame trusses with lap-jointed collars set on tie beams, all fixed with wooden pegs. The owner states that the north side included substantial 17th-century carpentry, including a beam dated 1633 or 1638.

The warehouse appears to have been rebuilt alongside the old quay, coinciding with the division of Broadstone House, with the north wing as part of the house. The south side wall originally rose from the quayside before the harbour was filled in in 1878. Parts of the building may be earlier than the 19th century and it holds significant interest due to its connection to Dartmouth’s maritime history.